Rome - Palazzo Barberini

Pope Urban VIII (Maffeo Barberini), that great builder and art patron, was fortunate in having the two greatest architects of the Baroque period, Borromini and Bernini, available to work for him during his reign (1623-44). The bees which featured in the Barberini coat of arms are found on buildings all over Rome, and so many ancient buildings were destroyed to make room for these new creations that the epigram "Quod non fecerunt barbari, fecerunt Barberini" ("What the barbarians did not destroy was destroyed by the Barberini") became current in Rome.

The palace, rearing high above the Piazza Barberini (entrance in Via delle Quattro Fontane), was begun by Carlo Maderna, with the help of Borromini in 1625 and completed by Bernini 1633